Hudson payraises stir election backlash for incumbents

By John Collins, jcollins@lowellsun.com

Updated:
03/08/2013 06:39:26 AM EST

HUDSON, N.H. -- A town election ballot loaded with warrant articles asking voters to approve 2 percent pay raises for Hudson's police, fire, Highway Department and Town Hall employees over the next four years has brought backlash against those elected officials who are unanimously recommending the raises, selectmen Chairman Roger Coutu said.

Criticism of the selectmen and Budget Committee has come in the form of multiple emails, phone calls and anonymous postings in the "thumbs-down" section of the weekly newspaper.

"We hear it over and over again: 'I haven't gotten a raise in three years.' And I guess if you're unemployed, or haven't had a raise in three years, I understand it," said Coutu. "But at the same time -- speaking now as a private citizen and taxpayer, not a selectman -- I can see the quality of services being provided. And if you compare our town's salaries against salaries being paid by surrounding municipalities, our employees are underpaid for the product they produce."

The polls for Tuesday's election will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Hudson Community Center on Lion's Avenue.

For the average Hudson household owning a home valued at $257,000, the combined property-tax impact of the all the negotiated 2 percent raises for police, fire, and Town Hall, Highway Department and nonunion employees, if passed, would be $25.55 for the year, according to the figure provided by Selectman Richard Maddox.

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Coutu and Maddox, who are both up for re-election on Tuesday, took the opportunity during a Hudson Candidates Night forum in February to speak in defense of the contractually-negotiated raises.

The three other candidates who are challenging Coutu and Maddox for two open seats, Richard Kahn, Normand Martin, and Randy Brownrigg, chose not to weigh in or make an issue of the recommended raises.

Maddox emphasized that the proposed contracts contain health-insurance concessions made by the five employee unions that will benefit taxpayers in the long run.

"If you reject these contracts and do nothing, the medical costs are going to keep going up," said Maddox. "These contracts are structured such that we're taking the Blue Cross (health plan) out, which is one of the best, most expensive plans you can have, in order to make it a more manageable plan for the taxpayers."

Selectmen and Budget Committee members "worked our butts off to get the employees some recognition for a job well done, but we also wanted to get the medical costs under control," Maddox added.

If all articles on this year's Town Warrant pass, the average Hudson property owner will see an increase of $51.14 on their tax bill above last year, including the pay raises, Maddox said.

Coutu pointed out that $51.14 figure includes a warrant article proposing a $1.7 million, dual-use Senior Center/Hudson Cable-TV studio building that will cost taxpayers only $118,000 -- or $10 more for the average property taxpayer -- thanks to over $800,000 in contributions each made toward the project from the seniors' building fund, and cable-TV company funding.

Also on the ballot, voters are being asked to approve a town operating budget of $28,832,690, which is nearly $36,000 more than last year's budget of $28,796,762.

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